THE hit and run drink driver who hit two pedestrians and left them lying in her wake has been jailed for two years. 


Retired bus driver Martin Cawood, 60, told police only the intervention of American tourist Joseph Lawson saved his life when Paula Robinson-Ridge drove into him from behind as he walked along the pavement on Nunnery Lane near Micklegate Bar. 

York Press:

York Crown Court heard she was doing 20mph to 30mph with her near side completely on the pavement at 12pm on March 21. 


Carl Fitch, prosecuting, said Mr Cawood flew into the air, smashed into her windscreen and fell off. As his wife Claire pulled their daughter to safety, Mr Lawson managed to stop Mr Cawood’s head hitting the ground, and was himself struck. 


Robinson-Ridge drove off without stopping towards  Bishopthorpe Road, swerving across the carriageway, despite community nurse Patricia Rains pursuing her with flashing headlights and coming alongside her to wave her arms at her in a vain attempt to make her stop, Mr Fitch said. 
Robinson-Ridge crashed into a parked car outside a vet’s surgery more than a mile away and reversed into a police car before officers caught up with her and arrested her, two hours later, as she drove back along Nunnery Lane. 


A breath test taken almost three hours after she hit Mr Cawood gave a reading of 130 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, nearly four times the drink drive limit. 


Mr Fitch said at her arrest, the level was 117 micrograms. 


“It could have been carnage,” said the Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Batty QC. “It is a terrible, terrible offence.”


Mr Lawson’s wife Claire had had to “pull her daughter effectively from the jaws of death”,  he said. 


Mr Cawood, who suffered a punctured lung,  broken shoulder, nose, cheekbone and ribs and cuts to his head said in a victim impact statement: “I feel lucky to be alive."


He said: “What is utterly disgusting to me is the level of alcohol in her system.  It is one or the other - have a drink or drive. More disgusting, she made no attempt to stop. I could have died for all she knew.”


Robinson-Ridge, 40, of Hollybank Road, Holgate, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving, for which the maximum sentence is five years, drink driving, failure to stop and failure to report an accident. 


She was jailed for two years, banned from driving for four and ordered to take an extended driving test. 


The court is to send a special commendation certificate to Mr Lawson in Colarado, USA, for his actions in breaking Mr Cawood’s fall and preventing his head striking the ground, and Mrs Rains is to get a £250 reward and certificate.


For Robinson-Ridge, Alex Menary said: “She is devastated by the consequences of her actions” and handed in more than 20 pages of references.


She had turned to alcohol after a disagreement at work led to her resignation from a well-paid responsible job, and she now drank on average two bottles of wine a day. 


On March 21,  she had had more to drink after receiving bad news at the vets about her dog. 


She was deeply remorseful for her actions and apologised profusely to Mr Cawood.